5 Self Care Daily Routine Hacks using Amazon’s Echo Dot

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Amazon as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

I’m a bonafide organizing nerd and love finding ways to make managing my life simpler. To keep track of time, set reminders, manage “to-do” lists, facilitate self-care and even relax I’ve been heavily relying on the Amazon Echo Dot I got for Christmas. I have been tinkering around with it for about a month now and found some great features that enhance my daily routine. The Echo Dot is voice-controlled so to use it, I only have to say, “Alexa” which is the command to wake up the device. From there I can either ask a question or give a command.

5 Self Care Daily Routine Hacks using Amazon Echo Dot

Using the Echo Dot I’ve enhanced my Self Care Daily Routine using the following five Alexa Skills.

1 – Planning my day.

The command or Alexa Skill I use first thing in the morning is “Alexa start my morning”. This command starts the Alexa Skill exercises below I use to plan my day. Alexa takes me through each of the one minute exercises that help me get my day off to a great start. The exercises:Minute 1: silence/meditation Minute 2: affirmation statements Minute 3: visualize your day Minute 4: 5 things you’re grateful for today Minute 5: your 3 top priorities for today Minute 6: (optional): stretching Minute 7: (optional) jumping jacks

2- Reaching my fitness goals.

Another Alexa Skill I use frequently is the 5 Minute Core and Cardio Workout. To start the skill I say, “Alexa open five minute workout”. This core and cardio workout is quick, get’s my heart rate up, and helps me tackle my core fitness goal. I’m pretty much disciplined when it comes to weightlifting, but struggle to be consistent with core and cardio.This 5 minute fitness skill gives me a workout I don’t have to think about by guiding me through the process. I just roll out my exercise mat, say the command and work until Alexa tells me I’m done. After a few weeks of this 5 minute workout, I will increase the duration using another Alexa Skill.

3- Meal planning.

Another Alexa Skill I find super helpful with my meal planning routine is the menu planning Alexa Skill. When I sit down to plan my meals for the month it’s easy to run out of ideas. Once I’ve written down our favorites I start asking, “Alexa what can I make with ________ and _______” and Alexa provides me with options. All I have to do is fill in the blanks with ingredients from my kitchen or shopping list.The results are pulled from online sources so they are one’s I’d find by doing an online recipe search. The Echo Dot gives me lot’s of recipes to choose from that I can either accept or say, “next” for another recommendation. When I accept a recipe I write the title on my meal plan and ask Alexa to send the recipe to my Alexa app. This made meal planning super simple and I was able to plan the entire month between my ideas and the ones the Echo Dot recommended.

4- Achieving my intellectual goals

One of my goals this year is to grow intellectually through reading, podcasts and continuing education courses. I plan one hour for podcasts and reading 4 days a week. To keep my on track, I set up a repeating reminder on the days and at the times I plan to practice this intellectual habit. I even use the Echo Dot to read my books to me when my hands aren’t free. Turning the books in my library into instant audio books is one of my favorite Echo Dot features.

5- Focus while working from home.

Lastly, the Echo Dot also helps me in the office. Using the, “Alexa, Play Spa Music” or “Alexa, Play White Noise”, command, I can create soothing sounds to drown out distractions while I work. My office is at the front of the house so it’s easy to get distracted by the mailman and neighbors coming and going throughout the day. Having the voice commanded Echo Dot has helped me to be more productive than ever. The only downside is I feel like I need more than one. I’ve found myself moving this one from room to room which is annoying and a time suck, so in the future I do see myself getting one or two more for my home. There are some really cool features like streaming the same audio in multiple rooms that I’d like to be able to do when we have social gatherings. The Echo Dot has a compact design and has several neutral colors to choose from that blend well with any decor. While the Echo Dot is compact, it still provides a rich sound quality crisp enough to play music and perfect for listening to my books. These are my favorite ways to use the Echo Dot to stay on top of my self care routines, but I know there are still so many Alexa Skills I have not even discovered. If you’d like for me to share more of my favorites as I find them let me know in the comments.

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